A dog in the works
by Zeusking19thePup
Summary: When Strudel is alone with her Squirrels working on her latest invention, what can the Pound Puppies do to bring her back to her usual chatty self?
1. Chapter 1

"Hey Strudel. What are you working on?" asked Lucky. No response. Strudel had been with her squirrels, alone, working on one of her crazy but useful inventions. She refused to talk to her team mates, the squirrels never came out to see the others. Lucky told Cookie and Squirt that something was not right. "She has never been like this before! It is like she is now lost in some world of hard drives and cables!" he explained to the others. Squirt commented that it was her usual self, tinkering all the time. However, Cookie disagreed. Strudel had been in a pretty bad mood. And the only person who was ridiculous enough to even get a chuckle out of Strudel was Niblet.

"Where the heck is Niblet anyway?" the three said in unison. Across the pound and up a tunnel, Niblet was looking for marshmallows. While Lucky and Cookie stayed underground, Squirt went on a search for Niblet. The last place Squirt would want to go is the alley.

After scurrying around the endless tunnels trying to find Niblet, Squirt headed to the dreaded tunnel for the alley. It was darker than usual. When he got to the end, his path was blocked by a huge gray bum. "NIBLET!" Squirt shouted. "MOVE OFF THE TUNNEL EXIT!"

Niblet was startled. He got up, looked underneath him, and Squirt was sitting there underneath him. "Oh, hey Squirt! Want to look for marshmallows?" Squirt rolled his eyes and glanced at Niblet.

"You, my friend, are coming back to the pound. With me. Strudel is acting strange and you are the only joker I know." Niblet stopped. "But Strudel never laughs at my jokes. They are not even funny. And when Strudel is upset, the entire pound goes upside down and nothing gets done."

Squirt freezes upon hearing this. You said what about the pound?


	2. Chapter 2

"Wait, what happens when Strudel is upset?" Lucky asked Niblet. "I don't know! It just seems to have a negative mood on everybody." The four glanced at each other. "I think we already got that." Lucky said. "But it is no time to back down. She is our friend. WE have to help her. TOGETHER."

However, just as Lucky said this, one of the scouting pups spotted a new arrival. Cookie groaned. "Why do we always get a pup when we have issues ourselves?" Lucky heard this and responded angrily. "We are the Pound Puppies. We place every pup with an owner. Regardless of our own problems. It is our duty." Cookie backed away, despite being a tough dog. However, Squirt found out an issue. "Wait, we have a pup to place, and we have no F.K.D to help us! Strudel is the only one who can help!"

The crew set about thinking of a way of going around this problem. Lucky had his idea, and explained it to the team. "We get Cupcake, Patches and Rebound to go on a patrol as a group, finding someone in need of a puppy. Unfortunately, one of us will have to go with them. That will be Niblet." Niblet suddenly screamed. "Yes." said Lucky. "Your younger sister."

Then he continued with the others. "Squirt, you will be in charge of lookout for the house. Cookie, you will guide the pup to his new home, and also teach him the cute puppy manoeuvre. As for me, well. I will just be keeping an eye on things. Now, do you guys know what to do?" The team looked up and shouted "Yep!"

Lucky shouted his line: "Go Dogs Go!"

While the others rushed off, Lucky walked in the other direction towards Strudel. "Hey Strudel. What is wrong?" Strudel sighed. "Nothing has been right. The F.K.D is broken, and requires fixing, the telephone lines are not working until later, and I am absolutely FED UP."

Lucky processed this for a second, and he finally understood what the small dog was going through. "I feel sorry for you Strudel. All of us have bad days. Humans, Pups, anyone. That is what happens in life. We all go through it. I just want to let you know that we feel sorry for you. But please could you have a break at some point and talk to your pals? The reason you are stressed is due to lack of communication."

Strudel suddenly looked up with tears in her eyes. "That is not the only thing, Lucky. But Mr Nut Nut… He is very unwell."

Lucky suddenly realised another thing. One of her closest friends was sick, and without proper care and attention, they could be so unwell that they would be in a bed for the rest of their life. Lucky now had a life saving decision to make. What could he do?


End file.
